Mother's Day Mayhem

Book 0: Tourist Trap Mystery

by Lynn Cahoon

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Cozy Mystery; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

Picturesque South Cove, California, is the perfect place to celebrate Mother's Day, but not everyone is feeling motherly . . .

Jill Gardner, owner of Coffee, Books, and More is almost out of Mother's Day cards. She has a few more in stock, but she's set them aside because she needs Greg's help choosing one for his mother. It'll be Jill's first time meeting her boyfriend's mother, and she's understandably nervous.

Turns out Jill isn't the only one having feelings about mothers. Kyle, who works at the antiques store next door, needs to find the perfect card for a mother he hasn't seen since he was five—when she went away to jail. But her arrival in South Cove isn't exactly celebratory, her behavior toward her son unexpectedly restrained. Piqued, Jill discovers that a mother can never be replaced . . .

Release date: April 2, 2019

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 112

Sample

CHAPTER 1

Coffee, Books, and More, my coffee shop and bookstore combo in the tourist town of South Cove, California, was doing its regular business on a Wednesday morning. Which meant I hadn’t had a customer since the last of the commuters had left around seven thirty. You might think I would be upset at the lack of customers, but you’d be wrong. Mostly because I’d been reading the new Linda Castillo book this week and I had to know the ending. So when the bell over the door went off when I only had ten pages left, I groaned. Aloud.

When I looked up, I saw the situation was worse than I’d expected. Instead of an actual customer, Josh Thomas, the antique dealer who owned the building next door, stood in his black suit in the middle of my dining room. I’d told him before that he needed to branch out with a little color in his clothing choices, but I guess I hadn’t made an impact. He looked like a funeral director at the local mortuary. And since I knew Doc Ames—who was actually a funeral director and looked less dour—Josh actually looked like a caricature of a funeral director. From a bad horror flick.

He turned his head and located me, sitting on the couch. Sighing, I put away the book that I’d have to wait until after lunch time to finish and crossed the room to greet him. “Hey, Josh. How can I help you today? Too late in your day for some coffee?”

He glared at me, like I’d dragged him into the shop to interrupt my reading. “No, Miss Gardner, I’m not here for a coffee.”

Josh had always called me Miss Gardner. Not Jill. At first, I thought it was due to our new acquaintance. But since I’d known him for over three years and he used to date my aunt, now I assumed he like referencing my single status. Like I was worried about it or something. Josh was staring at me now, and I realized he was waiting for a response to a question I hadn’t heard. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Josh sighed, loudly, looked around at the door to make sure we were still alone, and then asked me the question again. “Have you noticed anything different about Kyle?”

“Kyle?” I tried to think about the last time I’d seen Josh’s employee. Had it been last week? He lived in an apartment over the antique shop next to Josh. Had it been over a week?

“Kyle Nabors, the man who works for me? At the antique store?” Josh reminded me of Kyle’s identity as he glared. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

This is why I didn’t like talking to Josh. He tried to make me feel like an idiot. On a regular basis. “I know who Kyle is, I was just trying to remember the last time I saw him. I guess it was last week when I left the store after my shift. He was coming down from the apartment and I was going out to the parking lot for my car. I’d driven in that morning because I had to go into Bakerstown to get dog food. I can’t believe how much food Emma goes through in a month.”

“I’m not here to talk about the care and feeding of your dog.” He pulled a small notebook out of his jacket pocket. He paused as if taking notes. “When exactly did you see him and what did you talk about?”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about being interrogated, but I’d play along, especially since I might need to repay the favor one day when I was investigating—not investigating—one of our local mysteries. “Like I said, it was last Tuesday—”

Josh interrupted me and glared. “You said, last week.”

“Fine, so I said last week instead of Tuesday. But it was Tuesday. Can I go on?” I waited for Josh to nod, then continued my story. “Anyway, I saw him coming down the back stairs. I waved, he waved, but that was it. He looked happy.”

“He’s been looking that way for weeks. I know he’s still dating that woman from Bakerstown, but typically, he’s not that chipper about her.” Josh mused over his notes. When he finished writing, he looked up. “And?”

“And nothing. I went to Bakerstown to get dog food. I don’t think I’ve seen him since.” A bad feeling came over me. “Wait, are you telling me he’s disappeared? Have you called Greg?”

Josh followed me to the counter where I grabbed my phone. “Calm down, Miss Gardner. Kyle is currently working the front counter at my store. Which means I need to get back to make sure everything is all right.”

“So you’re concerned that Kyle’s too happy and you’re going to fix that?” I watched as Josh took two of the sample brownies from the plate on the counter and put them on a napkin.

He didn’t answer me as he headed to the door.

“Josh?”

He turned back to look at me. “Yes?”

“You’re a strange guy.”

After he stomped out, I returned to the couch and my book. I had thirty minutes until Toby arrived to start his shift and if I hurried, I could not only finish this book, but sort through the advance reader copies in the back room for my next read.

* * * *

Walking down to Diamond Lille’s to meet Greg for lunch, I paused in front of Antiques by Thomas. Kyle was working on a window display. He saw me watching and waved at me with a big grin on his face. The tattoos that peeked out from his rolled-up sleeves reminded me of his background, before joining the South Cove community. The kid looked way too happy as he scrubbed dirt off the window sill. Josh was right; something was definitely up with our bad boy turned good.

As I entered the diner, Greg saw me and waved from our favorite booth. He’s my. . .